The Genesis Of Wall Fountains
The Genesis Of Wall Fountains The dramatic or ornamental effect of a fountain is just one of the purposes it fulfills, in addition to providing drinking water and adding a decorative touch to your property.Originally, fountains only served a functional purpose. Inhabitants of urban areas, townships and small towns used them as a source of drinking water and a place to wash up, which meant that fountains needed to be connected to nearby aqueduct or spring. Until the late nineteenth, century most water fountains functioned using the force of gravity to allow water to flow or jet into the air, therefore, they needed a source of water such as a reservoir or aqueduct located higher than the fountain. Fountains were an excellent source of water, and also served to decorate living areas and celebrate the artist.
Animals or heroes made of bronze or stone masks were often times utilized by Romans to decorate their fountains. During the Middle Ages, Muslim and Moorish garden designers included fountains in their designs to mimic the gardens of paradise. The fountains seen in the Gardens of Versailles were meant to show the power over nature held by King Louis XIV of France. The Popes of the 17th and 18th centuries were extolled with baroque style fountains constructed to mark the place of entry of Roman aqueducts.
Indoor plumbing became the main source of water by the end of the 19th century thereby restricting urban fountains to mere decorative elements. Fountains using mechanical pumps instead of gravity helped fountains to deliver recycled water into living spaces as well as create special water effects.
These days, fountains decorate public areas and are used to recognize individuals or events and fill recreational and entertainment needs.
The Source of Today's Outdoor Fountains
The Source of Today's Outdoor Fountains Pope Nicholas V, himself a learned man, ruled the Roman Catholic Church from 1397 to 1455 during which time he commissioned many translations of old classical Greek texts into Latin. In order to make Rome worthy of being the capital of the Christian world, the Pope decided to enhance the beauty of the city. At the behest of the Pope, the Aqua Vergine, a damaged aqueduct which had carried clean drinking water into Rome from eight miles away, was reconditioned starting in 1453. The ancient Roman custom of building an imposing commemorative fountain at the location where an aqueduct arrived, also known as a mostra, was revived by Nicholas V. The present-day site of the Trevi Fountain was previously occupied by a wall fountain commissioned by the Pope and constructed by the architect Leon Battista Alberti.
The water which eventually provided the Trevi Fountain as well as the renown baroque fountains in the Piazza del Popolo and Piazza Navona came from the modified aqueduct which he had renovated.